Radio Football Commentators and Reporters 2016/17

With qualification for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League starting this week, here is the new season thread for details and discussion of national, regional, local and international radio football coverage during the 2016/17 season.

UEFA Champions League First Qualifying Round First Leg
The New Saints v SP Tre Penne - Nick Southall and James Bond (7pm commentary)

TNSFC Radio have an online audio feed of this game on the club's official website, with commentary coming from Stewart Bloor and Sam Thomas. BBC Radio Wales are carrying half-time and full-time updates from James Bond.

TNSFC Radio have anonline audio feed of this game on the club's official website, with commentary coming from Stewart Bloor and Sam Thomas. BBC Radio Wales are carrying half-time and full-time updates from James Bond.

To add to this, Radio Wales Sport were hosting their evening show from a nearby hotel close to Wales' Dinard base, with Tuesday's guests Dylan Ebenezer and Iwan Roberts. Steve Tucker of Media Wales (it'll always be Western Mail/SW Echo to me) joined via phone for the last half hour, as well as a brief interview with Nico Claesen for a Belgian perspective.

Most important update of all was from Owain Tudur Jones (playing on the beach close by) in a game of Welsh Press v FA Wales Media team. They (the press) won, including (by his reports) of an excellent goal from Radio Cymru's Dylan Griffiths.

Now the first TV fixtures are out, TS & 5Live know what games they have!

5Live Highlights: Leicester's first game, WHU first game at new ground, Arsenal vs Liverpool, Conte's first game at Chelsea, Jose's first home game, Spurs/Liverpool, first Manchester derby, Chelsea/Liverpool

TS: Pep's first game, Jose's first game, Leicester first home game (and it's against Arsenal), Sunderland/Boro, Liverpool/Leicester, Arsenal/Chelsea

Over in France, Stan Collymore didn't work on talkSPORT's coverage of either Euro 2016 semi-final. During their coverage of the second semi-final it was mentioned that Stuart Pearce - who has sat in for him on both matches - will be their co-commentator for Sunday's final. Before the tournament, Stan had tweeted that he'd be covering both semi-finals and the final for them, so it seems very odd that subsequently his involvement in their coverage would come to an abrupt end after he'd covered two quarter-finals, both second round matches with UK involvement, the whole of England's campaign and some of the biggest group games.

No explanation for his absence has been given on-air as far as I've heard, so I have to believe it has something to do with NewsCorp's buyout of the station this time last week. Stan's still active on Twitter, yet he hasn't mentioned talkSPORT directly on there since he was last on-air on Sunday. I am increasingly becoming convinced that his eight-year tenure with talkSPORT is coming to an end (if it hasn't already) given the mutual antipathy between himself and NewsCorp's The Sun due to issues in Stan's private life the newspaper has reported very prominently.

However, if Stan is to leave talkSPORT I'm not sure where there would be a strong outlet for him to go that would offer him the sort of regular work he currently enjoys on TS. I believe his contract is linked to the three-year Premier League rights cycles and that the last times they were renewed, in 2010 and 2013, he received offers from the BBC to return to Radio 5 Live and take over 606 as well as co-commentate for them. However, now that Robbie Savage and Ian Wright are ensconced on the Saturday and Sunday night versions of those shows respectively, I'm not convinced the BBC would be willing to shift either of them for Stan as perhaps they would have done in the past. Looking at TV, last season there was the big hoo-ha regarding BT Sport pencilling him in to appear on one of their shows, only to reconsider following some comments he made on Twitter, the same was also true of Match of the Day 2. Obviously a Sky Sports berth runs into the same issues regarding NewsCorp and The Sun that he may now have with talkSPORT. ITV don't have much live football and their line-up for England games and UEFA competition highlights is now pretty settled. So I can only really see a possible return to Channel 5 and a regular punditry berth on Football League Tonight or some co-commentary opportunities (not nearly as many as he gets at the moment) on Radio 5 Live as being possible avenues for Stan were he to leave talkSPORT.

As for how talkSPORT may replace him, while he's not as dominant a presence on the station as he was during his first two to three seasons with them - the arrival of Richard Keys and Andy Gray saw him taken off Champions League games, and although they've since departed the airwaves he's not returned to their midweek football coverage as a regular - he still co-commentates on the bulk of their live Premier League football and at least half of the showpiece finals they broadcast each season, as well as hosting an eponymous post-match phone-in on Saturdays and Sundays.

I actually think it will be an easier task to replace him as a co-commentator - talkSPORT have a number of strong pundits, Alvin Martin, Ray Houghton, Matt Holland, Stuart Pearce and Danny Higginbotham to name but five, who could step into Stan's shoes either on a regular or rotational basis - than it will be to find a successor for him on their weekend post-match phone-ins (which over the past eight years have gone under the Call Collymore banner, even when he's been absent). At the moment, Jason Cundy (often joined by a journalist) is the regular substitute for Stan, but for me he doesn't cut it as being a strong enough personality to take on the phone-in permanently - plus he already co-hosts evening show The Sports Bar five nights a week. I think Danny Higginbotham has the potential to prove a strong successor for Stan on the phone-ins, and with NewsCorp as talkSPORT's new parent company, they would have the power to limit his use on Sky Sports' Football League coverage to just Friday and Monday nights, releasing him to their new radio station at weekends. Colin Murray hosted an edition of Call Collymore last season in Stan's absence, and while he wouldn't be my first choice, perhaps he'd be deemed a big enough personality to take the phone-ins over as Call Colin. Matt Holland is an excellent anchorman, as proven on his Friday night Player's Lounge show, and I think he should be a candidate, while I found Adrian Durham very listenable when he hosted their Saturday night 505 phone-in many years ago - but doing an eight hour shift on Saturdays (albeit with a 90 minute break due to the commentary) would surely be far too long?

Regarding his other regular role on talkSPORT, as Mark Saggers' sparring partner on Kick Off: Monday Night Feist Night, I imagine that will just become a Monday Night Club-style panel discussion show with various different weekly guests, as it has been over the past few years whenever Stan has been away. And I'm sure it will not just survive but prosper in that form.

That's my first long ramble of the new season's thread, but I hope you'll forgive me as it's looking increasingly likely that Stan Collymore has or is going to leave talkSPORT given his unexpected absence from their Euro 2016 coverage during the final week of the tournament. If this is the case, where do you think he'll go next and who would you like to see replace him on talkSPORT?

Where was it that the BBC tried to get him back? I've not heard that before!

Also, why did BT take him off their game?

5Live could use him for sure and maybe enough time has passed for BBC TV or BT to use him, he is fairly outspoken on social media & while others are too, most avoid the topics he is brave (or stupid depending on your thoughts) enough to speak out, I don't always agree with him though.

If you want avoid any Murdoch stuff then the BBC is the best option followed by BT (Murdoch products advertise on BT, how fair do you take it though?)

Fair play to him for leaving based on the takeover, at least he sticks to his principals.

Other possibilities are foreign TV networks (ESPN? Bein?) or even PLP?

I just have seen this thread, have commented about Stan the Man in the Euro thread but will offer further thoughts here.

Stan could possibly return to 5live in a punditry role, but he will surely have to work himself up from the bottom,so I would imagine there would be a lot of low profile fixtures if 5live did decide to take him on.

Problem with Collymore is he does not get on with various commentators and pundits, to name just 4;

Where was it that the BBC tried to get him back? I've not heard that before!

Radio 5 Live originally offered him their Saturday night 606 show in 2010, two years after he left the station on the eve of Euro 2008. He was only hosting a single Saturday edition of Call Collymore at the time, although with talkSPORT winning rights to Sunday afternoon Premier League games that summer he was given a second edition of that show, so ultimately he opted to remain with them. With Stan having turned them down, 5 Live brought in Robbie Savage - then still a player with Derby County - late that summer. He was very much their second choice option for 606 at that point.

I know that's only Stan's word and is unlikely to be publically verified by the BBC (they're not going to put it out there that they wanted him, but he turned them down, are they?), but I remember during that summer that Charles Sale had mentioned in his column a few times that the BBC had been in contact with Stan and his agent regarding a return at the same time he was in negotiations with talkSPORT about a new contract. For whatever anybody thinks about Sale, historically he has a good track record when it comes to documenting sports radio personnel moves, so I have no reason to doubt him on this one - particularly as it's clear he doesn't especially like Stan and wouldn't be talking up his prospects if what he is reporting wasn't true.

As for more recent opportunities for him to return to the BBC, I'm not sure if he was offered 606 again - I doubt they'd have looked to replace Savage on the Saturday edition, but perhaps there's a chance they'd have gone after him in 2013 when Alan Green and Jason Roberts stopped doing the show prior to Ian Wright's introduction - but he would have been re-negotiating his talkSPORT contract again that year and, while I can't find any reports of the kind now, I'm fairly sure there was speculation regarding his future there.

So there has been interest from the BBC in bringing him back at various points over the last eight years, and it's worth noting that he was very prominent on Radio 5 Live immediately prior to his departure for talkSPORT. His last co-commentary for 5 Live was the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final, and he had been pencilled in not only to go to Euro 2008 for them but to be their summariser on the final before he made the move.

Problem with Collymore is he does not get on with various commentators and pundits, to name just 4;

Alan Green
Ian Wright
Joey Barton
Rio Ferdinand

Just on this, I know Stan gets a lot of criticism and a lot of it is deserved, but I think it's unfair to say that, as a rule, he doesn't get on with various colleagues, as at least three of the fallouts you refer to were not of Stan's making.

In the case of the supposed fallout with Alan Green, this was very much the making of Alan and Alan alone seeing as it stemmed from Alan running down talkSPORT all but by name during his commentaries at the 2010 World Cup, which upset a number of people at the station (Mark Saggers, Collymore, some producers). To his credit, Alan not only met with the talkSPORT team at the first England home game after that World Cup to apologise but reportedly wrote a letter to Stan to apologise, and he hasn't found himself involved in a similar sort of incident subsequently.

The supposed spat with Ian Wright stemmed for a media report Wright had seen which he didn't like. Wright mentioned Stan in a rude manner, Stan merely responded to this and they patched things up pretty quickly. Stan didn't do anything to instigate this and it seems to be much ado about nothing to me.

I'm not aware of any business between Stan and Rio Ferdinand, while for me the Joey Barton thing was something over nothing - Joey was critical of Stan's first hand reporting of fan incidents in France and they had had a few other minor footballing disagreements when Joey was working for talkSPORT during the first weekend of Euro 2016. I'm fairly sure one of the reasons why Joey decided to bait Stan on-air and on Twitter will have been as an easy way to endear himself to his new club's fanbase given Stan's criticism of them.

In conclusion, I think Stan gets a harsh rap as he's a controversial character that, because of his past, a lot of journalists will never like or warm to. That he's a long-standing and prominent columnist with the Daily Mirror means that he'll never be someone that their direct rivals The Sun and Daily Mail will write about in a positive manner.

However, since he became a pundit and certainly over his past eight years with talkSPORT, I think he's done well to re-invent himself as one of the more cerebral and certainly best-prepared and researched co-commentators around, as well as one of the earlier and more successful people to adopt and engage with social media as a way of boosting the audience to his phone-ins. He's also worked hard to use his experiences of mental health issues in a positive way to encourage other people with similar experiences to seek support. I was sceptical when he arrived at talkSPORT in 2008, but he won me over and I will be sad to see him go.

Gordon Sparks who commentates on the Weekend Plymouth Argyle games for BBC Radio Devon is taking a year off from Comms duties, but will still be hosting Early Breakfast and providing sports bulletins on Simon Bates' show.

Over in France, Stan Collymore didn't work on talkSPORT's coverage of either Euro 2016 semi-final. During their coverage of the second semi-final it was mentioned that Stuart Pearce - who has sat in for him on both matches - will be their co-commentator for Sunday's final. Before the tournament, Stan had tweeted that he'd be covering both semi-finals and the final for them, so it seems very odd that subsequently his involvement in their coverage would come to an abrupt end after he'd covered two quarter-finals, both second round matches with UK involvement, the whole of England's campaign and some of the biggest group games.

No explanation for his absence has been given on-air as far as I've heard, so I have to believe it has something to do with NewsCorp's buyout of the station this time last week. Stan's still active on Twitter, yet he hasn't mentioned talkSPORT directly on there since he was last on-air on Sunday. I am increasingly becoming convinced that his eight-year tenure with talkSPORT is coming to an end (if it hasn't already) given the mutual antipathy between himself and NewsCorp's The Sun due to issues in Stan's private life the newspaper has reported very prominently.

However, if Stan is to leave talkSPORT I'm not sure where there would be a strong outlet for him to go that would offer him the sort of regular work he currently enjoys on TS. I believe his contract is linked to the three-year Premier League rights cycles and that the last times they were renewed, in 2010 and 2013, he received offers from the BBC to return to Radio 5 Live and take over 606 as well as co-commentate for them. However, now that Robbie Savage and Ian Wright are ensconced on the Saturday and Sunday night versions of those shows respectively, I'm not convinced the BBC would be willing to shift either of them for Stan as perhaps they would have done in the past. Looking at TV, last season there was the big hoo-ha regarding BT Sport pencilling him in to appear on one of their shows, only to reconsider following some comments he made on Twitter, the same was also true of Match of the Day 2. Obviously a Sky Sports berth runs into the same issues regarding NewsCorp and The Sun that he may now have with talkSPORT. ITV don't have much live football and their line-up for England games and UEFA competition highlights is now pretty settled. So I can only really see a possible return to Channel 5 and a regular punditry berth on Football League Tonight or some co-commentary opportunities (not nearly as many as he gets at the moment) on Radio 5 Live as being possible avenues for Stan were he to leave talkSPORT.

As for how talkSPORT may replace him, while he's not as dominant a presence on the station as he was during his first two to three seasons with them - the arrival of Richard Keys and Andy Gray saw him taken off Champions League games, and although they've since departed the airwaves he's not returned to their midweek football coverage as a regular - he still co-commentates on the bulk of their live Premier League football and at least half of the showpiece finals they broadcast each season, as well as hosting an eponymous post-match phone-in on Saturdays and Sundays.

I actually think it will be an easier task to replace him as a co-commentator - talkSPORT have a number of strong pundits, Alvin Martin, Ray Houghton, Matt Holland, Stuart Pearce and Danny Higginbotham to name but five, who could step into Stan's shoes either on a regular or rotational basis - than it will be to find a successor for him on their weekend post-match phone-ins (which over the past eight years have gone under the Call Collymore banner, even when he's been absent). At the moment, Jason Cundy (often joined by a journalist) is the regular substitute for Stan, but for me he doesn't cut it as being a strong enough personality to take on the phone-in permanently - plus he already co-hosts evening show The Sports Bar five nights a week. I think Danny Higginbotham has the potential to prove a strong successor for Stan on the phone-ins, and with NewsCorp as talkSPORT's new parent company, they would have the power to limit his use on Sky Sports' Football League coverage to just Friday and Monday nights, releasing him to their new radio station at weekends. Colin Murray hosted an edition of Call Collymore last season in Stan's absence, and while he wouldn't be my first choice, perhaps he'd be deemed a big enough personality to take the phone-ins over as Call Colin. Matt Holland is an excellent anchorman, as proven on his Friday night Player's Lounge show, and I think he should be a candidate, while I found Adrian Durham very listenable when he hosted their Saturday night 505 phone-in many years ago - but doing an eight hour shift on Saturdays (albeit with a 90 minute break due to the commentary) would surely be far too long?

Regarding his other regular role on talkSPORT, as Mark Saggers' sparring partner on Kick Off: Monday Night Feist Night, I imagine that will just become a Monday Night Club-style panel discussion show with various different weekly guests, as it has been over the past few years whenever Stan has been away. And I'm sure it will not just survive but prosper in that form.

That's my first long ramble of the new season's thread, but I hope you'll forgive me as it's looking increasingly likely that Stan Collymore has or is going to leave talkSPORT given his unexpected absence from their Euro 2016 coverage during the final week of the tournament. If this is the case, where do you think he'll go next and who would you like to see replace him on talkSPORT?

Tom Ross would be my thinking as a replacement for the Phone Ins, possibly while covering a game here and there. Replacing co-commentors should be straight forward.

Anyone know when the BBC will release their media pack for the next football season? Which is only just over a month away. For 5live you would think more of the same Alan Green has signed a new 2 year contract, however he has dictated to 5live senior management that he will not be travelling to Russia 2018, my guess is this will have a knock on effect on who will do the England friendlies and qualifiers, Alan Green from August to be replaced by Ian Dennis on England games I would guess be the most likely scenario.

Anyone know when the BBC will release their media pack for the next football season? Which is only just over a month away. For 5live you would think more of the same Alan Green has signed a new 2 year contract, however he has dictated to 5live senior management that he will not be travelling to Russia 2018, my guess is this will have a knock on effect on who will do the England friendlies and qualifiers, Alan Green from August to be replaced by Ian Dennis on England games I would guess be the most likely scenario.

Any other thoughts anyone?

It normally involves a media day involving the TV crew, I think it's normally 1-2 weeks before the PL season starts, you'd presume before the Olympics too

Wouldn't be surprised to see Alan drop off some England games or almost certainly, Ian would replace him

yes, Ian Dennis is the obvious replacement for Alan Green as he already does this when Alan isn't available for England games. other than that, I don't see any changes-- although the first few weeks of the season will be interesting with so many of 5Live's commentary team (including their football corrispondent) away in Brazil. I wonder if Alan Green might be asked to hold off his usual month or so off until they are back?
I've said before that I don't like Green, a great deal but, if the Euro2016 is to be his last major international final, I'm glad he got to call the winning goal.

As we all know, something has changed very recently. No one really knows why yet, although there's been speculation about the News Corp takeover.

It is a little strange as - rightly or wrongly - they have built a weekend schedule with Stan at the heart of it. He's their mainstay on live Premier League commentary and post-match phone-ins at the weekend, and now it seems he's been shown the door.

talkSPORT seem proud of his contribution as we saw in the latest press release about RAJAR audience figures:

Collymore, a regular on the station, has seen his popular post-match phone in show on Sunday afternoons [4pm to 6pm] achieve record weekly adult listening figures this quarter, with a year-on-year increase of 21%.

As we all know, something has changed very recently. No one really knows why yet, although there's been speculation about the News Corp takeover.

It is a little strange as - rightly or wrongly - they have built a weekend schedule with Stan at the heart of it. He's their mainstay on live Premier League commentary and post-match phone-ins at the weekend, and now it seems he's been shown the door.

talkSPORT seem proud of his contribution as we saw in the latest press release about RAJAR audience figures:

All a little odd.

So he was offered a new contract earlier this year, but for whatever reason did not sign on the dotted line, now a few months down the line talkSPORT have withdrawn said contract.

As we all know, something has changed very recently. No one really knows why yet, although there's been speculation about the News Corp takeover.

It is a little strange as - rightly or wrongly - they have built a weekend schedule with Stan at the heart of it. He's their mainstay on live Premier League commentary and post-match phone-ins at the weekend, and now it seems he's been shown the door.

talkSPORT seem proud of his contribution as we saw in the latest press release about RAJAR audience figures:

All a little odd.

Thanks for posting a link to Stan Collymore's statement about his departure from talkSPORT on Twitter.

That The Wireless Group offered him a contract in May (almost certainly after the Premier League radio rights negotiations were formally concluded that month), only to withdraw it less than two months later points to the NewsCorp takeover having had an influence here. It surely can't be a coincidence that his final two games came within a few days of NewsCorp agreeing to a £220 million deal to buy the station. Now, as SouthCity has pointed out on different threads, this deal will not be formally completed for a while - probably not until it is approved by the regulators - and it might take up to a year for the takeover to go through.

But presuming it does, the contract Stan was offered is highly likely to be in line with the Premier League national radio rights cycles, so would have tied him up until the summer of 2019. By that stage NewsCorp will likely have full ownership of the station, and if there are issues between Collymore and The Sun it would seem to make Stan's position at the station untenable. It seems highly unlikely to me at least that Stan would be leaving the station now, given that he has turned down options to return to the BBC in the past, were the Scott Taunton managed former UTV Radio set-up to continuing to run it long-term, who as the most recent RAJAR press release 4-4-2 linked to demonstrates were clearly very happy with the audience he was drawing.

Tom Ross would be my thinking as a replacement for the Phone Ins, possibly while covering a game here and there. Replacing co-commentors should be straight forward.

Getting Tom Ross to host talkSPORT's weekend post-match phone-ins is something I would love to hear, however I fear that he's too new to the station's airwaves and such an unknown to a national audience outside of the West Midlands to be considered. I certainly think they should try him out as a cover host, perhaps on talkSPORT 2 or on one of their phone-ins when whoever is chosen to be regular host(s) is off, as he has a wonderful way of talking to fans. He has a supporters mentality and can still relate to them despite his years in the game. There is no doubt in my mind that Tom would be up to the task were he given the opportunity.

Replacing Stan Collymore on the co-commentaries and on Monday Night Feist Night should be a lot more straightforward than it will be to find a successor to him on Call Collymore. Personally, I don't see the need for them to have a regular co-commentator from week to week - certainly not initially - and would quite happily hear a rotation of voices on Saturdays and Sundays, at least until things start to settle down. I also don't think Sam Matterface should be locked into being their regular commentator in both timeslots given the options at their disposal, but that's another matter. With Monday nights, having Mark Saggers chair a panel of different studio pundits from week to week has worked well in Stan's absence over the past number of years, so I see no reason why this shouldn't become a permanent set-up.

But replacing him on the phone-ins will be a much harder task, as for eight years he has become so synonymous with that aspect of talkSPORT's weekend schedule. I wouldn't rule out someone emerging who's not currently with the station to come in, as has happened when the phone-in slots were available in the distant past, or for different people to be given the Saturday and Sunday slots, as was the case for much of the 2000s too.

Confirmation from Radio Today that, with Gordon Sparks deciding to stop commentating on Plymouth Argyle for the time being, BBC Radio Devon will use Alan Richardson, Drew Savage and Charlie Price to commentate on Plymouth Argyle matches this season.